Memories of Allan

Allan Burnett, our bandleader, venture leader and basically the essence of the community in South Bristol passed away on 1 January 2011 in a ballooning accident. It's one of those days you will never forget, the number of calls, text and emails in a few hours were testament to how many people knew Allan. Many of us joined Ravens Marching band as young as 8, we were still Brownies and cubs at the time when we met Allan. To say we were scared would be an understatement but as the funeral mentioned, Allan only had one volume. Some memories to never be forgotten (a lot written in my 1991 journal where i don't seem to have anything else in there apart from competitions!) -

1) Colerene - The weekend trips to Colerene where we practicised over and over again until it was perfect, it was cold and dusty in an aircraft hangar. In my journal, 1991 it states 'so far we only have 2 tunes, and i have to stay still' (I must have liked that to write it in the journal! All the brass have ribbons and we all weave into each other. I have no recollection of this at all :)

2) Competitions - Travelling around the country in old coaches that never seemed to work, or were always broke down. If you hit the head rest really hard, all the dust would come out. As a 10 year old, this was great fun. We travelled the 4 corners of England most weekends, to Havering, Peterborough, Truro, Midsomer Norton, Malverns, Sheffield, Ilfracombe....Memories of our plastic blue boxes being prepared for us by our dressers (mum was one of them) our shoes were constantly shined, tape was wrapped around their hands to get the fluff off our uniforms and the number of times my trumpet was rejected and i had to keep cleaning was numerous. Looking back through the programmes, it's no wonder we used to win every turnout! After inspection, and after your dreaded number was called and you had to stand still while someone stared at you for ages, the dressers would then cool us down with water in water sprays before going onto the field. There is nothing like the feeling you get when you take the first step into the competition arena and they called 'Ravens marching band' and we collect another trophy. The whole band would jump up in the air. Suprisingly won for songs like flashddance, hot hot hot, all night long (where we had to jiggle the hips and sing 'hey jambo jambo')

Ventures - There has always been rivalry between the two opposing scout groups in the area, so being in both groups was slightly controversial but I won't forget being invested by Allan on top of Avon Gorge. I still believe that the guiding and souting movement is so important for young people, I wouldn't change it for the world.

USA 1996 - Nothing was ever a problem and worth a try. Who would even consider taking a group of young people to Iowa, Illinois and Colorado for a few weeks? It was such an experience staying in a boy scout camp, spending 24 hours in the bus to get to white water rafting, sleeping outside on a park bench... Very few people in this would do this for others but everyone on the trip will cherish the memories we hold.

First aid training - Only Allan would set up such an elaborate role play for first aid training using his car, ventures screaming, a drugs overdose, a car accident with multiple victims. I was petrified!

I regard that New Years day as one of those days you will never forget, you know where you were when you were told the news. Allan was the heart of the community and his spirit will continue, through the people that consider him their mentor, through the people that cherish memories of Ravens Marching Band, Ventures and I just know I'm scratching the surface of the impact he had on people.

If we could all give even a fraction of what he gave, the world would be a better place.

Mystery trip to Barnstaple

For some unknown reason, Ali had always wanted to go to Barnstaple so on a January Saturday, me with a cold, we ventured on the small train (pretty much a bus on rails) for the hours journey to Barnstaple, not knowing what was there or what we were going to do. As we arrived into an industrial estate, we acted like sheep and followed everyone else into the centre of town, visited tourist information for a map and then to subway for lunch that was full of teenagers. Who would have thought the humble sandwich was so popular with the youth of today. We visited the Barnstaple heritage centre where we were asked if we wanted to do a quiz as we went round :) We weren't told it was a kids quiz but hey ho, while ali had to seek out the very small white mice concealed in each of the rooms, I answered the questions which were really hard! They had to be, i didn't get full marks ;) Each room had a different age in history, models and sounds from that time. It was really well done but gosh I had to concentrate on the audio to find the answer...and then i got it wrong. Back through the indutrial estate and back on the train, but this time the journey went a lot quicker as we spoke to a doctor seeking out hospitals to work at in the South West. A choice between Barnstaple and Cornwall...I know which I would pick.

It's tradition

One of my favourite days of the year, the day when Matthew and I visit London. This was our last trip as Matthew will be moving to London so we had a tradition filled evening to go out in style. The evening started in usual fashion of randomness when Matthew didn't have a suit, tie, shoes of cufflinks. We managed to find a tie and cufflinks at Tie Rack after rumaging through a box of discounted cufflinks, on the floor at one of the busiest stations in Britain. It's traidition that I book the hotel, the St Giles hotel this time and to be honest, we have had nicer. I've never been to a hotel that has an ironing room!

While at the launch, we networked while waiting patiently for the company logo to appear on the screen. However, as we only had 7 seconds to all get there and take the photo, we ended up having Goldman Sachs instead. It's traditional to then eat at Satsuma in Soho so at 10pm, we started dinner, ordered for us traditionally by Lisa. Then traditionally it was the friendly society, traditionally not finding GAY-late and walking around Soho trying to find it, and traditionally getting into GAY-late wearing ridiculously smart clothing. Simon was his usual magnet, at one point I was his family member, girlfriend and wife. Simon had a message for Matthew put on the screen and we ended the night linking arms singing New York in the streets of soho.

The end of the night finished in a non traditional style, Simon Ironed and Matthew and I watched. Classy :)

Best 4 years, loved the tradition, the gangsta shrimp, but now it has come to an end.

Lyme Regis Mill and aquarium

Our one day alone over the Christmas break, and we visited one of our favourite places in the South West, Lyme Regis. Instead of going straight to the Cobb, we visited the town mill and paid for a tour. It's one of those awkward situations where you visit a shop and the shopkeeper tells you so much about the place that you can't refuse to take the tour. However, i was really pleased we did. We learned how to grind flour, including having a go on a smaller mill stone that was ridiculously hard to move. We saw the watermill and how they now use it to generate electricity for the national grid. We had our usual walk along the promenade, promising to noe day hire a beach hut, then visited the National Marine Aquarium. £5 is slightly steep for a room of fish caught outside their window but it was good to see. Fish and chips and then home.

New Years disaster

Unfortunately, in the morning of 1 January Mum called to say that Allan Burnett, our bandleader had died in a balloon accident. It was one of those things that you don't want to believe. It's amazing how in a number of hours, people called, text, emailed and facebooked to make sure it was true. It shows the true impact of a person in our lives. New Years day was a blur, with a head filled with memories but we visited Budleigh Salterton for a New years walk on the beach.